Dear parents and caregivers,

Last Sunday, the staff joined with the St Anthony of Padua parish to celebrate the new school year and were commissioned into their role as Catholic school educators alongside the staff from St Anthony’s and the Parish Catechists. Father Leonard led a beautiful mass which was followed by a lovely morning tea provided by St Elizabeth’s parents, both past and present.

Wednesday was an afternoon of meetings beginning with our ongoing work with St Luke’s. The Year Six Camp Parent Information Session followed which was facilitated by Mr Chris Rebeiro and Mrs Emma Fernandez. Finally, we held our first P&F Meeting for 2023. While it was a small turnout of parents, it was a very productive meeting. The minutes from the meeting will be available in next week’s newsletter.

Please welcome Ms Lisa Serraino to our school community beginning next week. Ms Serraino will be working as an Education Assistant in the Pre-Primary and Kindergarten classes to support our current students. Please make her feel welcome.

A reminder to all parents that if your child is absent from school, it is your responsibility to provide a reasonable explanation as to why they are not attending school. We have a number of students who have serious medical conditions, therefore parents may need to be informed of any contagious illnesses. Thank you for your co-operation.

I would like our families to keep Mr Lawson and his family in your thoughts and prayers as they mourn the passing of his beloved grandmother. May she rest in peace.

Finally, a reminder that next Friday, March 3 is a Pupil Free Day. The school will be closed as all staff are participating in professional development off site.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

God Bless

Rebecca Clarke

Principal

Hearing Awareness Week is from March 1 to 7 and is a timely reminder to spread awareness about the positive impact of looking after our hearing health, which contributes to our quality of life, social engagement, career, confidence, and communication. This is an annual event that highlights the issues affecting Australians living with hearing loss. Did you know 3.5 million Australians aged 15 and over, which represents 22% of its population, have mild to severe hearing issues? An average of one in six Australians has a hearing disability and now with Telethon Speech and Hearing working within our school community, recognising the week is important.

It is important to follow the Kiss and Drive protocols during drop off and pick up. If parents are using Kiss and Drive, please stay in your car. If your child is not able to access Kiss and Drive independently, please park in the carpark and collect them. As a school, we strongly encourage parents of students in Year Three to Six to use the Kiss and Drive option for pickup to allow our families in the Early Years a chance to park in the carpark and collect their child from the classroom.

A reminder for families considering holidays during school term. As a school we do not encourage families taking holidays during school time. When students go on extended holidays in school time, parents are required to provide a written email/letter to myself at least two weeks prior to departure. Please note that the school will not provide any work for the student while they are away.

Shrove Tuesday

On Tuesday we celebrated Shrove Tuesday by making pancakes with all of our students at St Elizabeth's. This day marks a day of feasting and celebration, preceding the observance of the Lenten fast. Many people celebrate by eating pancakes. The reason for feasting on pancakes is that traditionally, the eggs, butter and stocks of fat would be used up before the fasting begins.

Ash Wednesday

The Lenten Season began this week with a reflective Liturgy on Ash Wednesday for students in Pre-Primary to Year Six. Father Peter placed ashes on the foreheads of students as a personal act of remembrance and a sign or witness to others. The ashes come from the burnt palms from last year's Passion Sunday celebration, which begins Holy Week. On this first day of Lent, we begin a journey of renewal - from death to life. During these 40 days leading to Easter, we focus on fasting, prayer and almsgiving and in receiving the ash cross on our forehead, we are encouraged to develop a spirit of humility and sacrifice. Father also visited our Kindergarten students with the ashes, and they shared with him a very cute song that they had been learning. Thank you to Mr Rebeiro and the Year Six students for organising and leading the liturgy.

Project Compassion

For over half a century, Project Compassion, an initiative of Caritas Australia, has raised funds to support people living in poverty around the world.

Since its inception in 1965, generations of compassionate Australians have participated in Project Compassion, making it one of the nation’s longest running charity campaigns. On average, nearly 900 parishes and 1300 schools across Australia are now involved in fundraising for Project Compassion. In the past year alone (2019-20), Project Compassion’s supporters have helped us to reach over 3 million people worldwide, including many affected by disaster or conflict.

“Together, we can make a difference now, and For All Future Generations”.

On Wednesday afternoon St Luke's staff joined St Elizabeth's for a professional learning session, with a focus on assessment and moderation of student work. All staff worked collaboratively, sharing assessment templates and rubrics. The afternoon was lead by our CEWA School Support Consultants; Ryan Wiles and Jacki Tucker and was a great success, with many staff still buzzing about the session on Thursday.

If your child is on an IEP, the case meetings will commence this Monday, 27 February to Friday, 10 March. The classroom teacher will be in contact with you to arrange a suitable time to meet, closer to the date.

Research shows that while most kids eat enough fruit, only 6% consume enough vegetables. Sending vegetables for Crunch&Sip is a great way to develop healthy habits and boost this statistic! During the month of March, eating vegetables will be promoted for Crunch&Sip.

Each week, the total number of serves of vegetables eaten in each class will be tallied. The class who has consumed the highest number of vegetable serves will display the ‘March Munch’ trophy in their class for that week and receive a Crunch&Sip vegetable prize.

Thank you to the families who have taken time to complete this survey. If you have any more feedback please complete the survey at the link below.

Most common queries so far

1. An App for ordering is being considered by Locavora but not yet available. Remember to save the website link and 'Add to home screen' on your devices for easy ordering.
2. Locavora follow the Traffic Light system in regards to healthy options for schools and therefore some lunch items won't be available. If we have high demand for an option it will be considered.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=Iy-FxTM2KU-zhlHaU-NeI2ubtwVR0K9JlSVy-I2EaSlUMlA3WlA4R1A4MjdONERWQUc1SFYyMEhRUi4u

Visit the enrolment page on our new website for the information and forms you require. Don't hesitate to contact Claire Didlock at the office if you have any questions.

Catholic School Parents Western Australia
admin@csp.wa.edu.au
https://csp.wa.edu.au/
Ph: 08 9338 9985

CSPWA Parent Induction Evening Invitation

Dear St Elizabeth's Catholic Primary School,

The Catholic School Parents WA P&F Induction evening will take place on Thursday 2nd March from 6pm, at St Peter's Primary School in Inglewood (103 Wood St).

The Induction evening will cover the new P&F Terms of Reference, updated Office Bearer role descriptions, including new duties for the P&F Treasurer, and information on how to access our P&F resources and online induction. An induction webinar will be available after the event for regional and remote schools.

The event is free but please register via this link for catering purposes https://events.humanitix.com/parent-induction-night. Can you please forward this message to your P&F, and include the flyer in your next school newsletter?

P&F Induction Night 2023

Thank you, Siobhan, Jen and Nicole.

Regards,
Siobhan Allen
Executive Director

Term 1 Start Date Wednesday 1 February

Term 1 End Date Thursday 6 April

Term 2 Start Date Wednesday 26 April
Term 2 End Date Friday 30 June

Term 3 Start Date Monday 17 July
Term 3 End Date Friday 22 September

Term 4 Start Date Tuesday 10 October

Term 4 End Date Friday 8 December

Friday 3 March

Monday 24 April
Friday 18 August
Monday 21 August

Monday, 9 October

Please note, these dates are subject to change. If these dates for Professional Learning do require amending, parents will be notified well in advance.

Friday February 3 - Beginning of School Mass

Sunday February 19 - Staff Commitment Mass

Tuesday February 21 - Shrove Tuesday

Wednesday February 22 - Ash Wednesday Liturgy

Wednesday April 6 - Stations of the Cross Liturgy

Friday April 7 - Good Friday

Sunday April 9 - Easter Sunday

Confirmation

Candidate Commitment Mass

Saturday 25th March 6.00pm

Sunday 26th March 7.30am

Sunday 26th March 9.00am

Sunday 26th March 6.00pm

Parent/Child Workshop

Tuesday 16th May 5.00pm

Candidate Retreat

Friday 19th May

Sacrament

Saturday 27th May 6.00pm

Sunday 28th May 11.00am

Saturday 10th June 6.00pm

Certificate Weekend

Sunday 11th June

First Holy Communion

Candidate Commitment Mass

Saturday 24th June 6.00pm

Sunday 25th June 7.30am

Sunday 25th June 9.00am

Sunday 25th June 6.00pm

Parent/Child Workshop

Tuesday 8th August 5.00pm

Candidate Retreat

Friday 11th August

Sacrament

Saturday 19th August 6.00pm

Sunday 20th August 9.00am

Sunday 20th August 6.00pm

Saturday 26th August 6.00pm

Sunday 27th August 9.00am

Sunday 27th August 6.00pm

Certificate Weekend

Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd September

Reconciliation

Commitment Mass

Saturday 25th March 6.00pm

Sunday 26th March 7.30am

Sunday 26th March 9.00am

Sunday 26th March 6.00pm

Parent Workshop

Wednesday 25th October 5.00pm

Candidate Retreat

Friday 3rd November

Sacrament

Tuesday 7th November 5.00pm

Wednesday 8th November 5.00pm

Thursday 9th November 5.00pm

Certificate Weekend

Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th November